MOBIL TO SPEED FUELING : DEVICE TO REPLACE CASH, CREDIT CARDS.Byline: Skip Wollenberg Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. A gasoline marketer that helped pave PAVE Cardiology A clinical trial–Post AV Node Ablation Evaluation the way for motorists to pay at the pump with a credit card has a new device that should speed visits to its gas stations while letting customers leave the card at home. Mobil Corp. plans to introduce in May an electronic gizmo Slang for any hardware device. See gadget. that can be clipped to a key chain and uses radio signals that activates the gas pump and charges the purchase with a single swipe past the pump. The Mobil Speedpass eliminates the need to fumble through a purse or wallet for a credit card or cash and to wait for credit authorization. ``The guy who wins this game is the guy who provides what the customer wants. Our target customer wants speed and this gives him speed,'' said Brian Baker Brian Baker may refer to several people:
The passes will only be good at Mobil stations, whose independent owners choose to have them installed. Mobil says the program will start in nine markets, including Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. and San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. . The pass will be available free of charge starting in May, and Mobil hopes to have a million in customers' hands by the end of the year. The Speedpass is a cylinder about an inch long and a -1/4-inch in diameter that can be attached to a ring with the car keys. The cylinder contains a miniature radio transponder A receiver/transmitter on a communications satellite. It receives a microwave signal from earth (uplink), amplifies it and retransmits it back to earth at a different frequency (downlink). A satellite has several transponders. carrying an identification number. When the pass is waved past one of the special pumps a radio signal from the pump triggers a response from the pass, which activates the pump and begins the process of charging the purchase. Mobil spokeswoman Jeanne Mitchell said the system checks while gas is pumping that there is enough credit available on the card to pay for it. If not, the pump will stop. Baker said unlike 1986 when the company quietly pioneered pay-at-the-pump technology, Mobil intends to advertise the Speedpass aggressively. What happens if you lose your pass? Mitchell said customers are encouraged to report missing devices so they can be deactivated. She said that as with credit cards, customers are liable for no more than $50 of unauthorized purchases. CAPTION(S): Photo: Mobil Corp.'s Speedpass, which clips easily to key chains, is a radio transmitter that instantly scans for credit approval. |
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